Last Monday, Clerk Barbara Montgomery got an apology from Manager Martin Williams for saying she was using a cell phone to carry on a relationship with a township worker and charging the calls to the municipality.

A regretful Williams said he wasn't suggesting "an improper, immoral or inappropriate personal relationship with any person. Rather, my remarks were intended as a comment on a day-to-day business protocol matter only."

With that the Board of Trustees reversed Williams' decision to stop paying Montgomery's cell phone bill and will reimburse her $320.

These simple actions probably saved Buena Vista from a lawsuit, the distraction from business matters that acrimony brings and the embarrassment of a community.